Reply to Car accident question - can someone explain fixing through insurance or suing like I’m a 5 year old

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Reply to "Car accident question - can someone explain fixing through insurance or suing like I’m a 5 year old"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Auto insurance companies represent their own customers.  If you are in an accident that is not your fault, then you definitely want to contact your own auto insurance.  If you try to work through the other driver's auto insurance, then you get no guarantee that anyone will by trying to do the right thing for you.  When you are not at fault, the other driver's insurance will try to minimize the amount that they pay out on behalf of their customer, since they are responsible for the costs.  First, if there is any question, they will try to deny fault.  Second, if it is determined that their client is at fault, they will try to minimize the amount of damages that they will pay.  They will try to send you to an assessor or auto body shop that will try to give you the minimal repairs and reparations to your vehicle to get it running.  They will do whatever they can to diminish the amount of cosmetic or optional repairs and try to limit the repairs to the minimum necessary to get the car functioning again.

What you should do in an accident when you are not at fault.  Always make sure to get a statement and photos of the damage to both vehicles.  Take a photo of where the accident took place, especially if the photo shows that you are not at fault (like showing that their vehicle is not in the correct lane or has crossed into your lane of has violated the right of way or is in an intersection when they shouldn't be).  Make sure to take a photo of the other driver's license plate number.  Second, insist on collecting the driver at fault's insurance information.  Do not volunteer your insurance information unless instructed by a law enforcement officer (LEO, e.g. police officer or sheriff).  Make sure to contact LEO and have them send out an officer to get a police report.  Do not leave the scene or allow the other driver to leave the scene without a police report.  Do not move the vehicles until instructed by a LEO.  Yes, even if your vehicle is blocking the road during rush hour, do not move your vehicle until you have corroboration from the police officer that they have established that the other driver is at fault.

Why do you do this?  Because if you go to the insurance company (either yours or theirs) and you only have a verbal agreement that they are at fault and they later deny that they are at fault or worse, they accuse you of being at fault, you are in a he-said, she-said situation and the insurance companies have no way of knowing that they were at fault.  If they have a plausible explanation for why you might be at fault or that it was a no-fault accident (e.g. a pure accident that was neither driver's fault), then each company will be responsible for repairs of their own client's vehicle.  At that point, your company will pay the damages, but they will raise your premium rates and you run the risk that they will determine you to be too great a risk and potentially drop you as a client.  So, you have to have documented evidence that the other driver was at fault.  If you cannot get a police officer, take a piece of paper and write down a statement that they admit fault and responsibility for the accident and have them sign it.  Alternatively, if they will agree, have them verbally agree to fault and record on your phone.  They should say date and time of the accident and they admit fault and responsibility.

After you have the documentation, you should check you and all passengers in your vehicle and make sure that no one has any injuries.  If there is any question at the time of the accident, then you should make sure to let 911 know that you need emergency services (ambulance/EMT) at the site and they can come and assess injuries on site.  If however, there are no critical injuries on site, you should still monitor driver and passengers because there are some injuries that will not be problematic at the time, but can get worse after time if not treated.  Like whiplash or bruising or potential broken bones, fractures, internal bleeding, etc.  If anyone is not sure how they feel, they should be checked out at urgent care or emergency care.

After you have documentation that they have admitted fault and/or you have a police report of the incident, then you should contact your own insurance company.  As I said, the other driver's insurance company will try to drive down the repair costs as much as possible and deny as much financial responsibility as possible.  You should contact your own insurance company with a statement.  Do NOT talk to the other driver's insurance company until instructed to do so by the claims agent for your own insurance company.  You should drive the car or have it towed to a repair shop that you trust or that your own insurance company recommends.  Essentially, you want to select where the assessment and the repairs will be completed.  It should be a location of your choosing and not one of the opposing insurance company's choosing.  Insurance companies may suggest a repair shop where they have a working relationship and they may be able to get deals more beneficial to themselves when you go to one that they have chosen.  Make sure to provide details of the accident to your insurance company as early as possible (either same day or first thing in the morning if not possible on the same day).  Insurance company claims officers are open 7x24 and even late at night, you should be able to call and open a claim.  You may not get a claims agent until regular business hours, but the customer service reps (CSR) manning the claims numbers will be able to take your statement at any hour.   The CSR will take down details and the claims agent will call you back during regular business hours.  Again, do not talk to the other driver's insurance company or agents until after you have spoken with a claims agent.  They will let you know when it is appropriate for you to return the call to the other insurance agency and give a statement.

You do all this because you want your vehicle and passengers to be taken care of, to the maximum extent of the law and you want to make sure that the other insurance agency will do all that they are required to.  Your insurance company and your claims agent will help ensure that.  At any time if there is a legal issue, they will either have their own lawyers handle the issue or they will have you sign over responsibility for your damages to your insurance company (called subrogation) and they will then pay all expenses, whether medical or vehicular repairs, and then they will sue the other company to reclaim the damages.  This is what you pay premiums for.  To have a major corporation take care to make sure that the opposing side pays for all expenses that they are required to.  And they know what those are, whereas laymen like yourself may not know all that they are legally obligated to cover and pay for you.  That includes things like rental cars while your car is repairs (including a rental car that meets your size requirement).  I had an accident once, which was not my fault and the other driver's insurance tried to tell me that I could get a subcompact car to drive while my SUV was being repaired.  But the tiny car they offered me would not handle the things that I needed to do while my SUV was in the shop.  So I called my claims agent, who told me what I was eligible to rent and that I was covered to a certain dollar amount.  If I ended up needing a bigger vehicle, I could pay the difference.  I could get a small SUV within my daily limit or I could pay about $2-3 per day extra to get a mid-sized SUV.  I was able to get by with the small SUV.

Sorry, if this is too much detail, but you said to explain like you're a 5 year old.  If you have additional questions, feel free to ask.  [/quote]

OP here, thank you for the detailed reply. It’s very helpful to understand the process.

Do body shops also do mechanical repairs, or just exterior damage? How do you report lingering impacts: medical issues that appear after the initial report (in myself or the children)? Driving related anxiety (such as driving at night, driving with kids in the car, driving in that specific car)? Added stress while navigating the whole process. [/quote]

It depends on the shop.  Some shops only do cosmetic and exterior damage.  Others cover everything.  If you have engine and mechanical problems, you can call the shop before you have your vehicle towed to the shop.  If you aren't sure, then take it back to the dealer for the vehicle.  Dealer shops will always handle body and mechanical repairs.

As for lingering issues, this is another reason why you use your own insurance company and claim agents.  If you develop after effect medical issues (some issues, like whiplash and mobility issues may not develop for a few days), you call your agent and report that you have an issue and are going to a ER (definitely go to an ER and NOT an urgent care) and they can direct you how to report and file for insurance coverage.  You may need to file and cover with your own health insurance and then get your automobile insurance company to pay for any copays and medical costs not covered by insurance.  The insurance company will cover those and sue the other insurance company for the damages, but that's all handled by your insurance company.  You will be covered up to the amount in your personal injury clause in your insurance.  If you have medical damages that are higher than your personal injury clause, then you may need to consult a lawyer to sue for the additional damages.  But as long as the medical costs are under your personal injury limit, you won't have to go that route.

Unfortunately, there is nothing that insurance or lawsuits will cover for trauma, stress and anxiety induced by the accident.  They will only cover actual dollar vehicle repairs and incurred medical costs.  [/quote]

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